He Remembered
by CSIGeekFan
Summary: Brennan helps Booth after he wakes up with no memory Post-Season Finale . Thank you, Smacky, for your awesome beta work on this.


**Title: He Remembered  
Author:** CSIGeekFan  
**Rating:** Any  
**Pairing:** Booth/Brennan  
**Beta:** Thank you smacky30 for all your help with this. You have no idea how much I appreciated your inpute.  
**Spoilers:** Thru 'The End in the Beginning'  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own or make profit from Bones. I just like to mess with the characters.  
**Summary:** Brennan helps Booth after he wakes up with no memory (Post-Season Finale)

**X X X**

He remembered his son. He even remembered his job.

He just didn't remember _her_. His partner. The woman he was supposed to protect with his life.

Dr. Temperance Brennan tried to be patient. Really she did, but sometimes it was simply too hard. As they walked up the platform to the lab, Seeley Booth shook his head and said, "I don't know. It looks familiar…" He trailed off as he slowly turned in a circle.

"Nothing?" she asked, positioning herself in front of skeletal remains laid out on the table.

Screwing up his face, Booth looked at the bones. His repulsion was obvious as he walked around the table, keeping his distance. "I'm sorry," he said. "I really don't remember."

It wouldn't be logical to feel disappointment; but she did, and keenly.

Ever since his release from the hospital, Brennan had been with him. For the most part, they'd been in his apartment, going through pictures and other items. Rebecca dropped Parker off each day, and then retrieved the boy after a few hours. As much as Booth might want his son to stay, both women recognized the fatigue a mischievous child could cause.

So Brennan stayed with him, and Rebecca took Parker home.

It's not that she minded his place, but hers was so much more comfortable, and… tidy. The man had a bowling pin in his living room. That said it all. Somehow, though, she'd managed to make herself at home, working from there as well.

"You're afraid," Angela had said just days ago. "You're afraid to leave him alone."

Brennan only admitted that Angela was correct in the dead of night, while vainly trying to sleep on Booth's lumpy couch.

Lately, at times, she'd gotten… anxious… and pushed him to recall.

_Impatient_, she mentally chastised herself. _Not anxious. It's simply not logical to feel anxious. Impatient is what I've felt._

However, when she would challenge him to remember, he'd get upset and they'd have to stop for awhile – often because he'd get a headache. A few hours later, he'd ask to try again, with the same result. Initial patience would begin to wear, frustration would seep in, and Brennan would find herself wanting to shake the man into remembering.

The doctors had said time would tell and that some memory loss could be permanent, but encouraged him to try to remember. As each day passed with little or no progress, doubts would creep in. But only in the quiet, while he slept, did she indulge in tears.

Progress wasn't slow, it was almost non-existent.

It was her desperation that brought them to the lab. Slowly, she'd escorted the shell of her partner into the building, through security, and toward the center of her work – the platform used for examination.

Nothing looked familiar.

Taking his hand, she guided Booth a little closer to the table of skeletal remains. He merely winced, the ache of disappointment forcing her to turn away and stand at the table's edge.

"I'm sorry," he said, moving to stand so close behind her that if she simply turned around she could press herself into him. She missed that – the feel of him so close.

"It's all right," she replied, staying positive only for his sake. In reality, every exercise cut like a knife. Yet, she couldn't stop. She wouldn't. He _would_ remember; because anything else was unacceptable. "I know you'll get your memory back," she stated, infusing her tone with certainty. "I know it."

She felt the heat of him disperse as he stepped away to wander around the platform. Computers lined the deck, and equipment of all sort sat on the edges. As he explored, she just watched for a couple of minutes.

"I don't remember this," he stated, looking apologetic.

Hearing a shuffling noise above, Brennan glanced up to find Hodgins and Wendell standing on the balcony, staring down.

"Hey, Dr. B," Hodgin's said, grinning. "Booth, man, it's good to see ya. You're looking pretty good, even if you've got the Marine haircut going."

She watched as her partner's face screwed up a little, trying to place the scientist. Slowly, Booth raised his hand and gave a slight wave. It was obvious Booth didn't have a clue who he was waving at, as he'd only seen Dr. Hodgins once since losing his memory.

"His name is Dr. Jack Hodgins. He works here," Brennan explained. "When we need trace evidence examined, he is quite good at analyzing and providing information necessary to apprehend the criminals." Pausing, she searched her brain for something less technical. Something Booth might remember. "You refer to him as the bug man."

Turning to face the men on the balcony, she pointed to Wendell and stated, "You play hockey with him. He's my intern."

When Booth didn't say anything, she figured he must be thinking. He often did so when presented with new aspects of his life.

As he contemplated, Brennan looked up at Hodgins and asked, "What are you doing?"

Wendell and Hodgins glanced at each other, guilt written all over their faces, before Hodgins looked straight at Brennan and lied.

"Nothing. We're not performing an experiment or anything. We wouldn't do that," he stated. Quickly, the duo backed away from the railing and high-tailed it to a laboratory, where they disappeared behind a door.

"Are they normally that strange?" Booth asked.

"By your standards, yes. However, they seem to enjoy their jobs," she replied.

For a few moments, Brennan let him look around, although he seemed to hold the same level of interest now as before the surgery. If anything, he looked bored out of his mind. The expression on his face made her throat close up tight, because for just a second, she could see the pre-operation Booth in his eyes.

Then he shrugged and began to descend the platform steps.

She followed, and they walked near the wall, aiming toward the secondary exit.

Then it happened.

One minute, he was looking around, stepping forward slowly while she was mentally lamenting the lack of progress. Then a loud _BOOM_ resounded from the upper floor.

The next thing she knew, she'd been gently slammed against the wall, and he was covering her. His arms were braced against the wall, trapping her, as the explosion reverberated throughout the lab. Sirens screamed, but all she could hear was her thudding heart, as he stared wide-eyed toward the balcony.

He turned his face toward her and stared with such intensity she couldn't move. Confusion warred with a flicker of something tangible in his eyes.

Then he grinned.

She sucked in a breath, hard and deep, because she _knew_ that look.

"Hey, Bones."

Something else flashed through his eyes, drawing her to him. Something achingly familiar.

The doors whooshed closed and latched as security guards rushed around them; but it all began to fade into the background. She vaguely heard Cam yell, "Hodgins," and the click of the pathologist's heels crossing the floor. Then all sound but his breath and hers disappeared, and she couldn't take her eyes off the man so close to her.

"Guess what?" he whispered.

"I'm not good at guessing. I prefer work working with-"

His lips cut off anything further and she sighed. Every muscle relaxed in an instant as she tasted him. Opening her mouth, she reveled in his groan as he stepped forward, squeezing out any space between them. Again and again, he stroked inside her lips with his tongue, and each time she felt like she'd gone to his proverbial heaven.

Breathlessly, he pulled his head back until she stared straight into his grin. God, he had that cocky expression on his face. That crooked smile, combined with the innocent little-boy look on his face made her laugh as he drew her into a quick hug.

When he pulled away from her again, he was laughing too. Then he picked her up and spun around and around. Slowing, he put her back down in front of him once again, still wrapped in his arms.

Licking her lips, she watched something flash in his eyes. With a husky voice, she said, "If I had to guess, I'd say your memory is returning."

"Right in one!" he exclaimed in response.

Brennan closed her eyes and shivered with pent-up emotion. His warm breath brushed across her neck when he happily nuzzled her, and suddenly her eyes filled and spilled over.

"I'm so glad. I've missed you," she choked out. In response, he hugged her tighter, lightly kissing the tender spot just under her ear. Then he was framing her face with his large hands and kissing first one cheek then another, before kissing her lips once again. It felt like comfort, mingled with seduction, and overlaid with something indefinable. She really didn't think she could feel better than that very second.

Not until he whispered, "So Bones… still want a baby?"


End file.
